In Afghanistan on February 22^nd, 2002, rescuers battled for hours to get to hundreds of people trapped in the Salang Pass in the Parwan Province. Four hundred people were rescued and some were found dead. In the Salang Tunnel, 300 hundred people were found trapped inside 57 vehicles. Two children were found dead and many had serious injuries and complications.

In the Afghanistan International Airport two women froze to death at the airport waiting for the once regular service for the great pilgrimage. As a minister from the new government attempted to take a flight to India, even he faced the same frustration as his people, who have had to face further disintegration of their society in terms of lawlessness, drugs, health and continued bombing.  Exposure to the elements and civilian casualties have now been added to the long list of hardships that plague the average Afghani. Along with the terrors of war, the disintegration of their government, and the hardship of natural disasters such as earthquakes, the average Afghani citizen suffers from numerous other tribulations.

Many villages remain isolated from the outside world in desperate need of aid. The Red Cross-Red Crescent assessment mission reported great deprivation in these areas. "We saw children digging in the fields for roots to eat and firewood. Leaves from the trees were also being eaten," said John Watt of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ENS, p.1, 2). 

The situation was bad enough before, and one wonders how much worse it can get. As the world promises aid and reconstruction to the country, thousands of Afghanis flee their homes to escape crime and search for food. 

Civilian Casualties

Thirteen thousand Afghanis have fled to southwestern Pakistan and 40,000 are in camps on the Afghan side of the border. In one of the camps, occupants were horrified when a U.S. bomb killed all nine members of a house on the camp. Following that event, a 24-year old neighbor is now psychologically damaged.

Whilst at a park in Kabul, a mother experienced a bombing in which three of her daughter’s playmates were killed by U.S. bombs aimed at the airport. The mothers screamed, "Where’s my child?" as they searched for the remains amongst shrapnel (James, p.1, 2). After living through the mujahedeen and the Taliban, it is only now she wants to flee Afghanistan. "Five of my youngest children died. No one could give us anywhere to stay."

To compound the fear of the bombs in Afghanistan, there is now the fear of crime. "There was nothing to eat and now it isn’t safe. The area is full of thieves," said Muhammad Shapai. Leslie Oqvist a U.N. official based in Kandahar says that 200,000 citizens have fled their homes, and have been living in the open with little food. Shapni says, "The thieves came at night into our home and they looted everything we had. I tried to stop them and they beat me. Now we don’t have anything. The Taliban government was good because it was a religious government. Now the people in-charge are the ones who were thieves before the Taliban" (McCarthy, p.1, 2).

Dr. Olivier Brasseur of the Population Fund has observed, "Women who manage to cross the border are totally exhausted. They come with children and no resources. They suffer from anemia, from infection and starvation" (McCullogh, p.3). At the clinic of the staging camp of Killi Faizo, the doctors of Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) see 100 patients daily and there is a measles epidemic. "Most of them have pneumonia, bronchitis or gastroenteritis from exposure to the elements," says Muhammad Esa (McCarthy, p.2). 

Unexploded Bombs 

Since the beginning of the "War on Terrorism" 600 cluster bombs were dropped on Afghanistan. From each one, 202 soda-sized cans of bomblets left 6,000 unexploded cans away from the areas cleared for the Coalition’s army. These bomblets are more dangerous than landmines because they are dropped from high altitudes, fall far away from the initial targets and are known to be inaccurate. Two weeks after the last U.S. cluster bombs struck front-line villages, unexploded bomblets littered the paths and fields; some hidden in shallow holes or partially buried in land and trees. One of two friends was returning to visit their ruined homes and fields. The bomblets, which look like trash or food rations, exploded, killing the villager and wounding his companion. Dogs cannot sniff them out and the slightest disturbance can trigger them off. Abdul Qadar, a 25-year old shepherd was hit by one and is now hospitalized with shrapnel wounds to his back and pelvis. A 12-year old boy lost part of his arm in Herat. "Wrapping humanitarian food rations in the same color packets as the bomblets was a tragic mistake," said Jean Ziegler, U.N official from Switzerland (Watson p. 1-3). 

In Dennis Hasterts plan "Task Force for a Drug Free America" last September, he stated that "The illegal drug-trade is the financial engine that fuels many terrorist organizations around the world, including Osama bin Laden. By going after this illegal drug-trade, we reduce the ability of those terrorists to launch attacks against the United States" (Sullum, p.1).

This was, however, contrary to the U.N. report last October that had confirmed the success of the Taliban’s elimination of opium production in Afghanistan with a universal ban in 2000. Now, returning to the days when Afghanistan used to supply 90% of Europe’s heroin, under the Northern Alliance, last year saw a harvest of 185 tons, 90% of which is under Northern Alliance control (Scott, p.1-4). Local consumption of the product naturally increases along the same lines.

The madness of this onslaught is unfathomable to contemplate in this, the dawn of the 21^st century, as the concept of human rights evaporates into self-interest. One cannot estimate the physiological, and psychological damage that has been exacted.

Sources: 

• ENS. “Deaths, Weather, Poverty Hamper Afghan Recovery.” Lycos Network – Environmental News Service. 02/12/02.

• James, Deborah. “Collateral Damage Made Real.” AlterNet.org. 12/25/01.

• McCarthy, Rory. “Fresh Waves of Refugees Flees New Regime.” 01/21/02. Guardian Unlimited. 01/28/02. 

• Scott, Peter. Dale. “Heroine, Drug Warlords Reappear on Afghan Scene.” Pacific News Service. 12/22/01.  

• Sullum, Jacob. “Drugs and Thugs.” Reason Online. 12/23/01.  

• Watson, Paul & Getter, Lisa. “Silent Peril Lies in Wait for Afghanistan’s People.” LA Times. 12/30/01. 

• Whitaker, Raymond. “The Taliban are Gone,But the Hunger and Cold Remain.” The Independent on Sunday. #617(2001) 13.

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